However much wardrobe and cupboard space you have, you are sure to fill it. Often, we give valuable space to items of clothing we haven’t worn for years – or have even forgotten that we own. It can feel quite liberating to sort through it all every once in a while, maybe as we are moving from one season to the next. In fact, a change of seasons can be the perfect time to grab the bull by the horns (or the outfit by the hanger). Wouldn’t it be nice to open the wardrobe door to see a thinned-out, neat, maybe colour-co-ordinated variation of what you had before?

Seven things to throw out or recycle

1. Clothes that don’t fit: If your weight or shape has changed, embrace the new you!
2. Anything that has long since gone out of fashion: You could be waiting a long time for those shoulder pads to come back in again.
3. Garments that don’t make you feel good about yourself and don’t express your personality.
4. Things that you never get round to wearing as they need too much care: They spend more time in the ironing pile than in the wardrobe!
5. Anything that has faded: Even if you love it, it looks worn and shabby.
6. Any item from your wardrobe that you haven’t worn in the past year.
7. Duplicates: How many black T-shirts do you need?

What to do with your cast-offs

You could offer your unwanted clothes to friends or family members or try selling them online. Failing that, most charity shops take clothing, as long as everything is clean. You don’t have to worry how full of holes the clothes are or how many buttons are missing – or if they are far from being this year’s fashion statement. Most charity shops sell donated items that don’t quite make the grade to textile recyclers. Find out more about donating to charity shops from The Charity Retail Association.

How to store what you are not wearing

You will probably still have clothes you want to keep that you don’t wear at this time of year, and outfits you only don for special occasions. You could divide your clothes into spring/summer, and autumn/ winter, and store the out-of-season collection somewhere cool, dark and dry in plastic boxes. Special occasion clothes or outfits with sentimental value, like wedding dresses, can be stored in acid-free tissue paper, either hanging in a spare wardrobe or folded neatly in acid-free tissue paper in a plastic storage box. We’ve got some useful hints on storing clothes in this blogpost.

Have you considered a storage facility?

Your out-of-season clothes, sentimental and occasion wear can be stored safely in a storage facility, where the temperature, light and moisture levels are controlled. Do you have to have insurance for self-storage? The answer is that yes, storage facilities will almost always insist on it. Once you have found the place that meets your needs, get a quote from us at Store and Insure.